Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric RevolutionPaul S. Martin, Richard G. Klein What caused the extinction of so many animals at or near the end of the Pleistocene? Was it overkill by human hunters, the result of a major climatic change or was it just a part of some massive evolutionary turnover? Questions such as these have plagued scientists for over one hundred years and are still being heatedly debated today. Quaternary Extinctions presents the latest and most comprehensive examination of these questions. ÑGeological Magazine "May be regarded as a kind of standard encyclopedia for Pleistocene vertebrate paleontology for years to come." ÑAmerican Scientist "Should be read by paleobiologists, biologists, wildlife managers, ecologists, archeologists, and anyone concerned about the ongoing extinction of plants and animals." ÑScience "Uncommonly readable and varied for watchers of paleontology and the rise of humankind." ÑScientific American "Represents a quantum leap in our knowledge of Pleistocene and Holocene palaeobiology. . . . Many volumes on our bookshelves are destined to gather dust rather than attention. But not this one." ÑNature "Two strong impressions prevail when first looking into this epic compendium. One is the judicious balance of views that range over the whole continuum between monocausal, cultural, or environmental explanations. The second is that both the data base and theoretical sophistication of the protagonists in the debate have improved by a quantum leap since 1967." ÑAmerican Anthropologist |
Contents
A Mammalian | 40 |
New World Mammoth Distribution | 90 |
Entrapment | 113 |
The Record of Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinctions | 128 |
Late Pleistocene Fossils of Natural Trap Cave | 138 |
The Significance of Radiocarbon Dates | 159 |
Ten Million Years of Mammal Extinctions | 189 |
Pleistocene Extinctions in the Context | 211 |
Mammoths in China | 517 |
Faunal Turnover and Extinction Rate | 528 |
Mammalian Extinctions and Stone Age People | 553 |
The Loss | 574 |
SEVERE LOSSES | 595 |
Comings and Goings of Late Quaternary Mammals | 629 |
Last of the Australian Megafauna | 639 |
Timing | 681 |
Coevolutionary Disequilibrium and Pleistocene | 223 |
Seasonality Gestation Time and Large | 299 |
Environmental Insularity and the Extinction | 315 |
Stratigraphy and Late Pleistocene Extinction | 345 |
The Global Model | 354 |
The Reordered North American Selection Regime | 404 |
North American Late Quaternary Extinctions | 440 |
Experiments with | 451 |
Extinction of Birds in the Late Pleistocene | 466 |
Quaternary Mammalian Extinctions in Northern | 483 |
Other editions - View all
Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution Paul S. Martin,Richard G. Klein Limited preview - 1989 |
Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution Paul S. Martin,Richard G. Klein Limited preview - 2022 |
Common terms and phrases
Africa animals archaeological associated Australia became extinct birds bison Blancan bones Bovidae carnivores cause Cave Cenozoic chap climatic change continent deer deposits distribution diversity early eastern ecological endemic environment environmental change Equus evidence evolution excavations extinct species flightless forest fossil genera genus geological glacial ground sloth Guilday habitat herbivores Holocene hunters hunting interglacial islands Kurtén and Anderson Lake land large mammals late Pleistocene late Pleistocene extinctions Macropus Madagascar mammalian mammals mammoth Mammut Mammuthus mastodont megafauna megafaunal extinction modern North America northern occurred Paleolithic patterns percent PH PH plant Pleis Pleist Pleistocene faunas Pleistocene mammals pollen predation prehistoric Press prey primigenius probably proboscideans Protemnodon Quaternary radiocarbon dates Rancho La Brea Rancholabrean range region relatively remains season small mammals Smilodon South southern Sthenurus stratigraphic subfossil suggests survived Table taxa tion tocene ungulates Univ vegetation vertebrates western woodland yr B.P. Zealand